


But for Broader Shoulders

by ibreathethroughwords



Series: A Burden Shared [2]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: Rebels
Genre: Anal, Anal Fingering, Anal Sex, Angst, Dirty Talk, Gen, Gratuitous amounts of sperm, Hurt/Comfort, Interrogation (mentioned), Interspecies Relationship, Interspecies Romance, Interspecies Sex, M/M, Masturbation, Mysterious doorways, Self-Preparation, Slavery (mentioned), Time Jump: Four Months, interspecies Marriage, marital trouble
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-27
Updated: 2017-04-27
Packaged: 2018-10-24 14:45:08
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,159
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10743825
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ibreathethroughwords/pseuds/ibreathethroughwords
Summary: This is a story about a bite mark, a secret marriage, and a grimy, filthy, reinforced blast door, several meters thick, covered in long, deep claw marks that's been too well sealed shut for anyone in the galaxy to easily open for a very good reason.





	But for Broader Shoulders

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks again to pyro_turk for reading this a thousand times, and for being willing to listen to me prattle on about this and tell me which ideas were too dumb to work. Extra thanks for shooting down my really bad ideas while I was showering last night. When you've been together just a few days shy of 11.5 years, you can do that stuff. Love you, you fucking nerd.
> 
> Edit 5/7: Started a job at a hospital. I'm resource, but they gave me FT hours this month. Updates are going to be slow.

Approximately thirty-five meters down the hall on the left was a large blast door, twenty meters high by fifteen meters wide. Though covered in a thick layer of dust, dirt, and who knew what other manner of disgusting things, it was quite easy to see the large welding seam that ran across the middle where the top and bottom doors met to close. The welding had been done by a professional - or a machine - and then more welding had been performed all along where blast doors of this size would typically retract into the floor and ceiling when keyed to open. Intelligence reported that it had been welded shut over ninety years ago, and the reports had turned out to be true. 

Long, jagged scratched were also visible under the grease and grime of the door, the sort that looked like they were carved by massive claws of immense density and thickness. They must have been sharp to create such gouges in custom blast doors that the science team said were made with phrik1. Such a creature would have been fairly tall, or possibly a flyer, to make those marks.

Five meters before that blast door and across the hall, the allegedly abandoned mining station had an office that should have also been in disuse. The door to that room was the only semi-clean door in the entire hallway, with a lesser coating of dust on the door, the floor in front of it, and the keypad half-hanging off the wall that unlocked it. In the dust on the floor, boot- and foot- prints from multiple species could be seen. This building was the only one on the planet that held signs of sentient life, and so their prey had to be here.

Located at the top of the dilapidated gray building that spanned the edge of a long, narrow canyon that dropped for miles, no one on the operation was exactly happy to be there. If the criminals they were tracking had been tipped off they were coming it would be far too easy for them to blow the building off the edge of the canyon and send their merchandise - slaves - and the would-be rescuers tumbling into that jagged abyss below. It wasn't exactly what Kallus had signed up for when he'd volunteered to go around helping to free slaves from the Empire's clutches and put pressure on their trafficking routes. 

He watched the tactical screen from orbit as his commanders on the ground quietly confirmed the breach, clear, and support teams were in position. Medical teams were standing by in the hangar bay, already loaded aboard shuttles, and ready to depart as soon as he received the final word that the building had been cleared of all hostiles.

Minus whatever the hell was in that sealed-off mystery hanger. They'd trying scanning it, using x-ray, and a whole other manner of things, but nothing had worked so far.

The last of the ground troops checked in with the ground commander - the most competent, most trustworthy person Kallus worked with - and Commander Orrelios called up to the ship to confirm battle readiness as ordered.

Every time they did an operation like this there was a large risk that he was going to lose Zeb. Every time he gave the order for his mate to proceed he was gambling with their life together.

Kallus exhaled quietly, and pressed the comm button. "Proceed, Commander," he ordered, long practice at injecting authority into his voice preventing any of his worry from coming through over the comm.

Zeb acknowledged, and there was comm silence for several minutes as the operation on the surface proceeded. Kallus and his aides watched the tactical display as the tiny, colored dots moving through the projected holo of the building's known layout exactly as Rex had trained them to move. Once the breach began, there would be no contact unless there was an emergency until the building was clear. While planning the raid, and then again while obsessing over it in the early hours of the morning until he'd been distracted with Zeb giving him what he'd called a "seriously deep-dicking," Kallus had timed it to around 13:43 for Zeb's people to breach and clear, minus the large, mysterious room no one could get inside.

It took 13:39 after he'd given the order to proceed before the comm crackled back to life. "All clear, command," came the report. It wasn't from Zeb, but from one of his aides. If he hadn't been able to hear Zeb delivering what sounded like it was shaping up to be one hell of a dressing down in the background he'd have been worried. Someone had done something extremely stupid, but no one had gotten killed. That would be an interesting story to hear later.

"Acknowledged," he said. "Report."

"We captured eleven of the twelve reported slavers. One man was dead on the floor when we arrived. Lieutenant Hopps is sending his bio signature to you now for an identification."

Kallus glanced over at the comm station, and the officer nodded. "Transmission received, sir. Sending to the Intelligence station now."

"Stand by for identification of the body, Captain. Did they have any prisoners?"

There was a soft sigh over the comm. "No, sir. Logs are coming up now… They were picked up five hours ago, it looks like, but the buyer name, location, and payment method are all completely obscured. It'll take some time to scrub these clean."

Hell. "Very well. Dismantle their terminals and bring up what you can with the prisoners. Have you any wounded?"

"No, Colonel, no wounded."

"Understood. _Sosigenes_ 2 out." Kallus turned to hangar bay control. "Medics and shuttle pilots can stand down. Have the fighter pilots maintain their defensive screen until it's time to escort the troop shuttle back to the ship, and security waiting in the docking bay to take these traffickers to their cells."

He'd learned the hard way not to take chances.

These rebels had taught him to be ready for anything.

\---

More often than not these days Zeb reported to Kallus in his office when they weren't in the middle of an operation and didn't have to be in another part of the ship. It was the best compromise they could come up with to avoid putting a strain on their already imbalanced relationship. Privately, Kallus felt there was more of a balance with him having achieved the higher rank in their public life: he certainly didn't feel like he held anywhere near an equal one in their private life lately.

Zeb quite disagreed with him on that point, and some days it was quite the battle to get him to ease up with regard to his temper. The bite mark he'd accidentally coerced (convinced? mislead? fucked?) Zeb into giving him four months ago was a bigger deal than Kallus had apparently known, or would ever know, at this rate. For a week after they'd returned to Yavin IV Zeb had secluded the pair of them with the promise of death to anyone who interrupted (no one had dared), and insisted he'd explain everything after he'd spent the week buggering Kallus senseless.

That week had come and gone, Kallus had spent a couple days in the medical wing, and Zeb hadn't explained much at all. It had been utterly frustrating. 

So far, Kallus had deduced:

  1. Zeb expected him to be submissive in some mysterious way. He wouldn't say what, or how, or when, but he did. Not when they were on duty, of course not: Zeb respected military traditions and Kallus himself far too much to insist on it then. Kallus outranked him, and Zeb had been fully supportive of that since it had happened. Besides: he was navy now. Zeb was army. Different branches of the service.
  2. In private, however, their dynamic had altered somewhat since that night. Kallus was struggling through figuring out when he needed to back down and submit and _how to fucking show it_ because Zeb wasn't giving him a damn clue half the time. For all that this brilliant being could do, and see, and be, sometimes he was a completely inarticulate child with the brain cells of an amoeba.
  3. Kallus was on his own to figure this out, unless they actually rescued one of the Lasats they were chasing down, and he could bribe them into tell him what Zeb wasn't, or if Zeb finally saw reason and listened to his concerns.
  4. Every time he had Kallus alone for the first time in several hours after a shower he was stripped, sniffed, and scent-marked. If that wasn't enough to counter a displeasing smell or get enough of his husband's onto him, he was could happily count on that being fucked senseless and Zeb rubbing his release into his skin.
  5. Zeb was utterly obsessed with his bite-mark. There were certain times during which it was appropriate for Kallus to have it uncovered, and more times when it was to be hidden. A pattern for it was not readily apparent and thus he assumed it was at the whim of his mate. He'd tried asking but that conversation had ended up with Zeb entirely too focused on looking at it, which had led to sex, which had lead to both of them falling asleep for the night and completely forgetting to pick up the discussion when they were woken by the alarm for battle stations.
  6. Absolutely no one but them knew they were married, Zeb wasn't ready to discuss telling his family at all, or to discuss why he wasn't ready to discuss telling his family. That kind of made Kallus angry.



And that was it.

Marriage had been an infuriating game of tug-of-war so far, and Kallus was only barely holding his own. If he didn't hold the higher rank in their public lives, if their past had been any different, if Kallus was any less stubborn of a man, he had no idea how they wouldn't have killed each other by now. If he wasn't such a worrier, if he wasn't so utterly head-over-heels in love with the lasat - not that he was going to admit that aloud in the middle of this clusterfuck and potentially make things worse - this would be an complete disaster of a relationship by now. Ever since he'd turned traitor to the Empire Kallus had felt strung out and stretched too thin. Stress kept him from sleeping, made him push himself too far out of worry and paranoia. This romance hadn't improved that, exactly, but at least there was someone there to talk to.

Zeb was very good about making sure he ate, slept, relaxed (even if it was just for two minutes), or intimidating Kallus's aides into doing it for him while they were apart. Zeb took care of him, and Kallus enjoyed having someone to fuss over in return. 

He wasn't giving this up, but he was perfectly fine with being annoyed as hell by his top secret husband.

Kallus leaned back in his chair reading over the report that had been sent from the bridge while he waited for Zeb to clean up and come to him. Scanning crews had picked up lasat fur in the building that wasn't Zeb's, and the newly-decoded logs from the slavers backed that up. The lasats had been picked up by - 

He swore softly, but vehemently, and in a couple of different languages when the name of the ship appeared on his feed. The _Chimaera_ had been here, merely hours before. Feeling a sense of urgency, he tapped his comm switch. "This is Colonel Kallus. Has everyone been brought up from the surface?"

"Yes, sir."

"Keep the fighters in a defensive screen, and get us into hyperspace. I want all ships to jump to the edge of the system, any direction is fine. Put some distance between us and this planet as soon as possible."

The comm officer acknowledged, and Kallus sighed and leaned back in his chair. With Thrawn, it could very well be a trap; honestly, he would be more surprised if this was only a coincidence. The rest of the report was a short read: there was no way into the large, sealed section, no known way to determine what was in it either through the shielding, static dampening, or thickness of the walls without a large excavation.

Zeb showed up right as he'd finished reading, and about a minute after they had made the jump to hyperspace. Kallus waved him in, noted the confusion on his face. "The _Chimaera_ beat us here by five hours," Kallus explained with a dark look on his face as the doors whooshed shut behind his husband. "I wasn't sticking around in case Thrawn came back. We're jumping to the edge of the system for now."

"Good idea. Those slavers got downright jumpy when we started asking questions about who they'd sold their prisoners to. Intelligence is helping process them now so they can get started on the interrogations." Zeb plopped down in one of the chairs across from Kallus. "They say they have no kriffing clue what's behind that blast door either, just the same rumors we heard: sealed for nearly a century, no way through, can't scan the damn thing to get a reading of what's inside. We've got the data from their supposed attempts."

Kallus grunted and took the data card Zeb handed him. He put it into the reader, and called up the information. It matched their readings almost perfectly. "We could have Sabine try blasting it open," he muttered. "Doesn't matter what's in it if the whole thing accidentally topples to the bottom of the ravine." After scanning the rest of the data, he glanced up, noticing a detail missing. "It says they tried to drill through, but I don't see a depth given. How far did they go?"

"We measured it at four point six-something meters, and then the drills don't work. They just quit. Comlinks stopped working at that point too and the blasters were acting like they might overload or power off so we backed out. Whatever's being held in there probably ought to stay put, Rafe."

"I don't disagree. I'll make the recommendation to command that we leave whatever is in there where it is or at the bottom of the crevasse, and continue tracking this group of slaves. Did you recover a manifest?"

Zeb scowled and crossed his arms over his chest. "You got the report from the scanning crew, didn't you?"

Kallus sighed and gentled his voice. "I know what the scanning crew found, but a manifest would be more helpful as far as figuring out how many slaves we're trying to find and free. All I have are the logs stating the time of pickup and data reporting lasat fur in the building. Did you find one?"

"No, but one of the younger slavers got really chatty when he saw me."

Okay, that was interesting. Kallus blinked, and leaned forward slightly, tilting his head. "What did he say?" His husband grumbled something nasty-sounding under his breath and looked away. Of course, Kallus knew Zeb wasn't having an easy time with this. He wouldn't expect him to. Perhaps motivation was needed. "Garazeb, _please_. Once I've debriefed you and reported this to command I can join you in our quarters for a while."

There was no immediate verbal response, but at least Zeb was looking at him again. Fine. He could work with that. Sex had been a powerful motivational tool for Zeb before their accidental union, and now it could almost always get him whatever he wanted (so long as what he wanted wasn't the answer to a personal question or a question about their marriage). Kallus submissively averted his eyes and tilted his neck to teasingly reveal the edge of the bite mark from under his uniform collar. "I would very much like to do that, my husband," he murmured. 'My husband'. Forbidden words he rarely spoke aloud.

Those forbidden words had a powerful effect on Zen, though. When the lasat shivered, he knew he had Zeb where he wanted him. Carefully hiding a smirk, Kallus looked up at him through his lashes. "Please, will you tell me what I need to know so I can take care of you sooner?"

Obedience came immediately. "They had several species. Quite a few lasats, wookiees, two devaronians, and some bodach'i. The devaronians were a bounty they picked up for a Hutt on Nar Shaddaa and handed off yesterday, but the other three species were all picked up by the _Chimaera_ for transport elsewhere this morning."

"Did he give you the name of the officer who negotiated the payment?" he asked demurely, unmoving from his more submissive posture. Odd, how it made Zeb so much more willing to give. That was something to remember for later.

"No, just that he thought he was a lieutenant."

Well, it was something. "Thank you, Zeb," he said, and sat back with a soft sigh. "Head back and write your report. I should be done here by the time you submit it."

Being told what to do by him put the lasat right back on edge. The bad mood his husband had been showing before returned immediately. "Don't take long, Kal," he ordered, and left the room without so much as a kiss or backward glance.

 _Kal._ Not Rafe. 

Kallus rubbed a hand over his face, swore softly and vehemently for a solid minute to get his frustration out, and called the bridge to have them request contact with the _Ghost_. He reported the situation to General Syndulla pointedly ignored her prodding at his current state, then at Zeb's current state, and promised her everything was mostly fine.

At least she'd laughed at that the way he'd rolled his eyes at "mostly" before giving him orders to bring the prisoners to the closest base for questioning. The _Ghost_ would be meeting them there. 

"Fan-fucking-tastic," he muttered after signing off. Orders were passed off to the bridge crew, and then Kallus, not ready at all to deal with Zeb right now, headed down to the brig to check on their prisoners. Intelligence had done a fantastic job getting them stripped down to the bare minimum in the warm cells. Kallus refused to let prisoners keep anything on them in which transponder or tracking device could be activated or used. He could treat prisoners well without being a complete idiot and letting someone track him back to base.

They were settling in and Intelligence had received their orders from General Draven. Kallus approved. No matter what the softened senators or junior officers of High Command might think, slavers deserved very little in the way of mercy and he'd be damned if anybody did anything to compromise the security of his crew and his ship.

He left them to it after watching for a while, left orders to inform him of any developments, and gave up on putting off dealing with Zeb any longer.

\---

Dim lights greeted Kallus when the door to their suite slid open. He cast a quick glance to either side of the door to check for an intruder, and stepped inside. The door to the bedroom was open, which was undoubtedly where Zeb was. Kallus turned and locked the door, then turned on a light and moved further into their suite. Zeb wasn't in the small bedroom either, but the door to the refresher was open and the light was on. Paranoid as ever about having as many closed doors as possible between himself and the outside world, Kallus shut and keyed the lock for the bedroom door as well. He gave Zeb his privacy and undressed before stretching out on the wide bunk that accommodated them both so very well. 

While he waited, he tried to anticipate what Zeb's needs would be. Coming across Lasat slaves was always rough on them both. Being in such a geographically dangerous place and then dealing with Kallus worrying about it all night probably didn't help either. 

Sex was clearly on the list, and probably at the top, but what kind? Oral? No. Zeb had been too keyed up when he'd left Kallus's office. If anything, it would probably be best if he starting preparing himself for anal now. On days like this Zeb didn't have a lot of patience. 

Kallus reached over and grabbed the lube, got to work stretching and lubricating himself while he considered the rest of the situation. Zeb was in a foul enough mood that he might want something further from Kallus afterward: it had been like this since the bite. That was were the situation became tricky, because the only person worse with dealing with emotions and personal failings Kallus had ever met was Governor Tarkin. Oh, he'd tried various things, such as asking subtly, asking less subtly, asking point blank, and demanding to know what Zeb wanted from him, but that all ended with Kallus sleeping in the sitting room, in his office, or not sleeping at all for quite a bit longer than he ought to have gone without because nobody was as infuriating as Garazeb Orrelios when he didn't want to discuss his wants and needs with his husband.

He was so tense that wasn't sure he'd be able to get it up, but at least he was properly lubricated.

Kallus put the bottle back where it went, and waited. It wasn't a terribly long wait. Zeb had clearly been using the sonic, because he came out clean and slightly fluffy-looking, with a less grumpy look on his face. The lasat sniffed the air and gave his naked mate a pleased grin that went straight to Kallus's cock. It seemed he'd done something right: maybe getting hard wouldn't be any trouble after all. 

"Did you get yourself all stretched open for me?" Zeb drawled as he approached the bed.

Kallus drew his knees up so his feet rested flat on the bunk and spread his legs. "Have a look for yourself," he offered.

Zeb knelt on their bunk and used his thumbs to separate Kallus's cheeks. "You've done a good job," he praised, and pressed the pad of the digit over the hole. The claw gently scraped the perineum and the human shivered. "But you're not hard yet. Fix that for me, Rafe. Touch yourself."

It wasn't what he wanted: he wanted Zeb to do it. Unwilling to risk starting a fight when he finally had the lasat in a good mood with him, when he was finally managing to do something _right_ , Kallus bit his lip and obeyed. His hand, still slick with the lubrication, wrapped around his cock and stroked. Zeb's eyes watched him intensely, the thumb still rubbing over his entrance to tease and torment Kallus. Careful not to make too much eye contact - if he was too dominating, if he took too much control of this, it felt like it would be over real fast - Kallus teased his cock. 

The head had been especially sensitive lately, and he paid special attention to the area right beneath it, working right up to where he wanted touched the most without actually touching it just yet. Not ready to bother with a good grip yet, he dragged his fingertips lightly up the vein on the underside, back down, the back up and across the sensitive head. Kallus teased the slit, then nearly jumped when Zeb gently gripped his wrist to stop him. 

"Let me," he said, eyes focused on Kallus's face.

The human nodded, and let Zeb grip his hand as he bent down to carefully lap at his cock. Lasat tongues were wider and a little warmer than human tongues, and it meant Zeb could cover more when he licked up and down the shaft. That alone could be enough to reduce him to a panting mess, but today Zeb seemed more than willing to give his partner pleasure. Kallus wasn't going to comment, wasn't going to complain. Taking precautions with his fangs, Zeb drew the tip of Kallus's dick into his mouth and sucked while he laved the head with his tongue. It felt good enough to make Kallus cry out and tip his head back. Now he was fully engorged, only a couple of minutes with his husband's mouth on his enough to have him ready to go. 

Zeb teased him a few more seconds before backing off, panting a little. "You smell so good," he murmured, and moved up the bed to nuzzle Kallus's neck. Immediately turned on every time Zeb went for the bite that marked him as the lasat's mate, he shivered and bared it to him, hands lifting to clutch at short fur and tug him in. 

"Please," he whispered. Sometimes he could get Zeb to bite him again, and it always felt so damn good. Things between them would be good for days after each new bite. 

This time, Zeb reacted differently. "Let me see the last one," he said, pulling back for a minute to inspect Kallus's neck. Impatient for sex now that Zeb had started something, he huffed, but held still. "It's not healed up enough yet, Kal."

Kallus leaned forward and rested his head on Zeb's shoulder. He wanted to ask what determined that, why not, why Zeb's behavior was being so damn inconsistent now… but he didn't want a fight. "Okay," he said mostly reassure himself, and slid his hands down Zeb's flank. "It's okay. Kiss me again, Zeb?"

Lingering on the neck would mean that Kallus would just focus on it. Getting Zeb's attention off it would help him focus on getting Zeb off. Zeb was happy to oblige, and reached for the lube before pressing it into Kallus's hands. He opened it, and spread a liberal amount on the non-human phallus. It was thicker than most humans, the head completely blunt, and the texture of it felt like it had small scales or bumps over it that drove Kallus wild. The vertical slit in the head was soft when he licked it, but felt rough against his thumb.3

When he had enough lube on it, Zeb took the container away and set it aside. He turned Kallus onto his hands and knees - it was never face-to-face anymore, always like this, like Kallus was a bitch to be used! - rested a hand onto the back of the human's neck to keep him there, and pressed steadily inward. If it didn't feel so kriffing good every single time, Kallus might have thrown a fit; instead, he moaned softly as those little scales grazed his prostate. Fucking _hell_ , Zeb was good. 

They rested together for a moment, unmoving, and then Zeb began in earnest. At first his pacing was slow, as though making sure Kallus really had prepared himself. Within a few minutes, when Zeb was sure of his preparedness, the real pounding began.

It was fast, it was brutal, and Kallus didn't manage to finish before Zeb was growling through his release behind him. Kallus tried to lift a hand to touch himself so he could cum to the sound of that. Before he could get it anyway near his cock, it was pulled behind him. A noise of frustration escaped him. His husband was fucking him through the very last of his release. If Kallus touched himself now, he could still finish with him. "Zeb, please!"

"Come from my cock," he panted. The thrusts had slowed to longer, harder ones that shook the agent to his core with each powerful snap of Zeb's hips.

A quiet sob escaped. That wasn't going to be enough today. "Touch me, _Garazeb_ , I need to feel a hand on me!" Why was it so difficult to get what he needed or wanted from his husband lately simply by asking or telling him those needs or wants?

Zeb growled at him - practically snarled - and capitulated, finally giving into Kallus for once. As soon as Zeb's paw wrapped around him, Kallus was done. He sobbed out his release into the bedclothes, shooting cum over himself and the pillows. 

To his credit, Zeb didn’t pull out until he was sure Kallus was done. He wrapped a wet cloth to clean his husband with and sat down on the edge of the bed when that chore was briskly handled. "Guess we need to try to talk again," Zeb said sheepishly.

"Was I that obvious again?" Kallas asked, suddenly miserable. Damn. Here, he'd gone to all this trouble to avoid a fight, and now it was probably inevitable. If he was careful, perhaps he could still avoid it, and persuade Zeb to come to bed. "I apologize. I was trying to avoid another fight, not begin one."

The admittance got him a long, hard look. "That's not like you," Zeb said.

Kallus sighed and ran a hand through his messy hair as he sat up. Normally, he enjoyed feeling the lasat's generous release leaking out of him; tonight, it was a painful reminder that their new relationship had soured so fast. For a man who had spent the first near twenty years of his military career actively pursuing every case he was assigned, not backing down from any challenges given to him, and who owned up to his mistakes without prompting or ceremony, this was odd behavior. Zeb was right.

Zeb was also the best damn thing that had ever happened to him and Kallus was terrified beyond all reason of fucking that up to the point where he lost Zeb through his own fault. How did one explain that? Was he meant to just say it? Was that one of those things best kept silent? He was more willing talk about his feelings than Zeb but that didn't mean he was any better at it ninety percent of the time.

"I know it isn't," he said instead, because they were the only safe-sounding words that came to mind, "but I'm very tired of us always arguing."

Something must have been clear in his face, or his tone, or his scent, because Zeb's ears flattened so they were parallel to his brow line. "That it?" he asked, reaching for Kallus and pulling him closer. Zeb shifted him so they were up against the bulkhead, Kallus sitting between his splayed legs and wrapped in his warm arms. Having that warm chest to lean back against was comforting.

"More or less," he answered, and wrapped his arms around Zeb's muscled forearms. "We fight about everything lately. I do what I can to prevent it from happening, but I feel like I'm simply very good at messing that up."

Silence lasted behind him for a long while until Zeb sighed. "It takes two to communicate, Rafe. It ain't your fault."

It felt like it was. Zeb's words felt like a vice around his chest. They'd been able to work out their issues before Kallus had fucked up and manipulated the lasat into being rougher with him than the other male felt comfortable with. Now it seemed clear to him that he wasn't honorable enough for Zeb to trust with whatever was bothering him, or even enough to tell Kallus what he expected of his now that the were married. He bit his lower lip, but didn't respond to that. What could he say?

 _It does, but you never tell me what I'm doing that angers you._ Too accusatory.

 _Yes, dear._ That sounded sarcastic, even if he said it as submissively as possible.

 _I'm fairly certain it is, and here's a list of reasons why…_ The last time he'd responded in such a way he'd been lectured for being arrogant and self-centered by Zeb's friends. Just because they weren't around right now didn't mean he was safe from a lecture later.

None of those were good options; instead, he sighed, and kept his mouth shut. Kallus ran his fingertips over the short fur on Zeb's forearms. Zeb telling him what he needed from Kallus was a discussion they'd last had only a week ago, anyway. Bringing it up again so soon would do him no good, but not being able to discuss this with anybody was hurting him. There was a raw, pounding ache in the human's chest whenever the topic came up, either in conversation or in his own mind. Every lasat cultural reference they'd come across had been useless to him: it had all been in that mysterious language, untranslatable, and Zeb was careful to keep all non-lasats away from it. Clearly, Kallus would see nothing of his own marriage duties or the traditional expectations of his partner.

"Rafe, what is it?" Zeb murmured, leaning in to sniff at his neck where the scarred bite mark was. That mark had caused all these problems. If only he hadn't been so selfish, maybe things between them would still be fine. 

Kallus tried to draw in on himself. "Zeb, I don't want to argue over this again," he said softly. 

"Too kriffing bad. Talk."

Aware now that the more submissively he behaved, the more likely it was that Zeb would either drop it or not kick him out of the room for the night, he tilted his neck to further expose the mark. He still hesitated to speak. "I said I would respect your decision to not tell me anything further regarding our mating and your culture, and I'm doing my best to continue with that. It's just… difficult sometimes for me to anticipate your needs quickly enough."

"What do you mean?" Zeb grumbled. The arms around him tightened enough that Kallus couldn't move at all, and Zeb was tense. 

Kallus closed his eyes and took a deep breath as his pulse increased. Adrenaline was flooding into his system and his breath was coming faster as he sensed danger. "I apologize, Zeb. Please, relax. I'm not accusing you of anything or blaming you. You asked what was wrong, I'm trying to explain."

A soft growl from behind him reminded him that there were teeth right at his neck, but otherwise his husband relaxed. Kallus exhaled quietly and made himself relax with Zeb. "I feel like a terrible husband, all the time. I can see you're frequently upset with me, and though you don't want to discuss it, I…" he hesitated. Was he making this too much about him, and not enough about the lasat? "I want you to know that I am doing the best I can to figure out what I'm doing wrong, and I want to do better, Zeb. I want to please you, and make you happy. I want to make this work, and I'm sorry that I keep screwing it up." Kallus looked down at his hands, noted the way they shook with nerves against Zeb's fur. "I'll keep trying."

Above his head, there was an impatient huff, as though Zeb was thinking, " _Ugh. This again?_ " It didn't match up with the sweet kisses on the side of his neck, or his ear, or the top of his head, however. "I don't exactly have any guidance either," Zeb admitted quietly. "I know there's something I'm wanting from you, but I can't figure out what it is, and then I get angry when you don't give me whatever it is I don't know that I want. That's not your fault, Rafe, and I shouldn't be taking that out on you."

"But you are," Kallus said quietly, voice barely audible as he twisted enough to look up Zeb. "We badly need to figure this out, Zeb. I've been oscillating between wanting desperately to submit to you, to please you, to lie here and do as I'm told all day, and wanting to keep my autonomy and enjoy our playful arguments and bossing you around as we had been doing. It's left me wanting to ring your neck because I'm receiving no direction on what you expect from me, or when, or where."

The lasat looked down, guilt casting a shadow on his face. Kallus pulled away enough to turn around and straddle his lap so they could face each other and put a hand on his cheek. "Zeb, look at me, you big, purple, ball of lint."

Zeb did, ears perking up slightly, hands settling on Kallus's waist. He rested his forehead against the lasat's. "I want to be here, but I need you to meet me halfway, Garazeb."

"I can do that," Zeb replied. "Fucking hell, Rafe. You smell like you're in so much pain. Let me make it up to you. Let me make you feel good."

Those large hands slid around to cup his ass as Zeb leaned in for a soft, loving kiss that curled Kallus's toes. "Okay," he agreed, shifting teasingly in his husband's lap. "You can do that."

**Author's Note:**

> I know, it's such a short chapter! Consider this more of a prologue. The next chapter will really start the story. You guys just needed background information for the time jump first.  
> \---
> 
> 1: [Phrik!](http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Phrik)  
> 2: [ I got to name a ship!](http://www.behindthename.com/name/sosigenes)  
> 3: [Some things are too horrible to _not_ share](https://books.google.com/books?id=JxV-3AZv0s4C&pg=PA92&lpg=PA92&dq=lemur+penis&source=bl&ots=1URHpC_1_8&sig=n9oNLA6ngqBvQ-Obp26_XmexqhU&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi6qdGojMHTAhUM6YMKHV5rCasQ6AEISDAR#v=onepage&q=lemur%20penis&f=false). I only stayed a little close. Zeb has a lemur penis because I've been debating this since chapter two of part one. 
> 
> A couple nights ago, I was doing my research into this again, bouncing the pros and cons of going full lemur dick off of my wife (who betas this for me). Zeb is more like a lemur than a cat (and I can find that post on tumblr and link it, if y'all want): so, lemur dick. He's humanoid, not human, and so it didn't feel right to give him a human penis like it would with Thrawn. The Chiss are descended from humans. Lasats? Probably not.
> 
> I've been looking into this. Decided to look at Google Images to get an idea of it. Well, for some reason, my innocent, new, search string popped up a ton of images of lemurs sucking themselves off. I was very quiet for a moment and then I looked up at my wife and said, "I wonder if Zeb could suck himself off like a lemur." 
> 
> One thing you need to know is we are in the living room during this conversation. Our front door opens into the common hallway, and we are the closet apartment to the building entrance. The stairs to come up are on one side of our door, and the mailboxes are on the other. Two of our friends in the building (a couple that she worked with before she became extremely ill in February), had just entered the building, and stopped to the check the mail on their way upstairs to their apartment. 
> 
> My darling wife, dear, sweet Chloe - ever unaware of how thin our living room wall is that we share with the common hall - chooses this moment to say, kind of loudly, "Are you looking at lemur dicks _again_?"
> 
> And from the hallway, keys are dropped, and the girlfriend goes, "Omg WHAT?"
> 
> There is a chuckle.
> 
> So now Zeb has a partial lemur dick because SOMEONE COULDN'T KEEP HER VOICE DOWN.


End file.
